


Secrets of Something

by orphan_account



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Farah is a cat...., M/M, beginner bang fic, it's gonna be great, teen for some mild swearing, witch!amanda, witch!dirk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-02 18:42:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 12,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10950474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “Oh I love Amanda, she’s one of my favorite customers.” Every single one of Dirk’s customers was his favorite customer. He paused a moment; “Wait—then you must be Todd! She’s told me a lot about you.”Todd suddenly had that look of alarm, the look of a man who knew that when people talked about him behind his back they usually weren’t saying good things. “Really?”“Yeah. She absolutely idolizes you, from what I’ve heard.”Magic AU where Dirk is the shopowner in a magic store. Some shit goes down, though.





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

> fic for the beginner bang! Sorry if it's bad, it got sorta rushed towards the end.

A man stood outside of the window of a small store squeezed between a pet store and a pizza place. He inspected the things on display, pretending to be interested when in fact the only thing he was actually interested in was the man standing inside.

            The man outside the window fiddled with each part of his outfit in succession; the sinister yellow patch on his lapel, the buttons on his worn our three-piece, the gloves on each his hands which glowed faintly purple.

            Riggins took a tentative step over the threshold of the door, already feeling like he was overstepping his boundaries. He felt the ghostly presence that had been shadowing him all day lift itself off his shoulders and settle onto one of the tables nearby. A feeling of guilt settled itself permanently in his mind.

            The man who was taking inventory at the table looked up and smiled brightly.

            “How can I help you, sir?” The shopowner’s English accent was delightfully foreign and youthful. Riggin’s throat was hurting now.

            “I would like to offer you a job, young man.” He began. He liked how official his voice was sounding. He took another step forward and leaned onto the counter, trying to let this new businesslike persona distract him from his guilt. “I’ve heard you’re a very skilled wizard.”

            The man across the counter was clearly absolutely horrible at hiding his surprise. He shut his eyes and brushed his hands down his orange apron. “You heard wrong.”

            “Don’t try to play that game with me, Dirk.” He wasn’t even trying to hide his sinister intentions now. “I’ve seen your testing scores. You’re a.” He tried to look for the right words. “You’re a fucking amazing wizard.”

            The other man’s hands were everywhere now, cradling his cheek, tugging at the drawstring on his apron, splayed on the table. His surprise and fear were visibly rising. “Th-those test scores are top secret.”

            Riggins smiled. “I have that kind of clearance. And you will, too, if you take this job I’m offering.”

            _Where is Farah, again?_ Dirk thought worriedly. She rarely left for this long…

            “Well, that’s an easy one then.” Stated Dirk, hoping to resolve this quickly and cleanly, knowing he couldn’t. “I don’t want your job.”

            Riggins cleared his throat. “Fair enough.” He turned on his heel, trying not to look at spot in the corner of the room where there was a pair of angry red eyes staring at him, a pair of eyes that _he_ had put there.

            He spun around just before reaching the door, pulling the purple-gloved hand out of his pocket. He pointed his finger at Dirk, letting a blast of blue light direct itself straight towards the young man’s chest.

            Dirk didn’t even have a chance to think before his hand shot up and stopped the blast in its tracks; no explosions, no fanfare, it just stopped and eventually disappeared.

            Dirk seemed at least twice as surprised as Riggins by his own apparent burst of talent. Riggins recovered much faster from this shock than the younger man.

            “I see.” He said simply before turning to leave.


	2. Gel Pens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Todd and Dirk meet.

Dirk was re-shelving gel pens when his last customer of the day walked in. He heard the tinkle of the wind chimes above the door and the reluctant footsteps of someone who had never been inside a holistic magic store before.

            “Welcome to Dirk Gently’s Holistic Magic Shop.” He said brightly, turning to get off of his stepladder.

            The guy who had just walked in was looking bewilderedly at the merchandise. He was small and almost elflike (although he wasn’t one; Dirk had known multiple elves and could identify them on sight) and he had the most piercing blue eyes that Dirk had ever seen.

            Dirk leaned sweetly onto the counter, chin in his hands. “What are you here for?”

            The guy walked up to the counter—seemingly unable to keep his eyes on one spot for even a moment, taking in everything of the store that he could. He jumped when his eyes reached the sight of a large black cat on edge of the counter, which smiled at him slyly.

            He eventually managed to make eye contact with Dirk, though, saying; “Hi, uh, yeah—I’m not here for myself. I’m looking for something for my sister. She usually comes here but she couldn’t today, so…” He gave an utterly vague and useless motion, at the universe in general or at himself. “I’m here instead.”

            “Really? What’s your sister’s name?” Dirk never forgot a name, or a face.

            “Uh, Amanda? You probably don’t remember her…”

            Dirk cut him off; “Oh I _love_ Amanda, she’s one of my _favorite_ customers.” Every single one of Dirk’s customers was his favorite customer. He paused a moment; “Wait—then you must be Todd! She’s told me _a lot_ about you.”

            Todd suddenly had that look of alarm, the look of a man who knew that when people talked about him behind his back they usually weren’t saying good things. “Really?”

            “Yeah. She absolutely idolizes you, from what I’ve heard.”

            Todd looked relieved, but still wary. “So, what does Amanda usually buy when she’s here?”

            Amanda came to Dirk’s store primarily to buy remedies for her pararibulitis—A disease that gave her vivid physical and visual hallucinations.

            “Okay, well let’s see.”

            Dirk wandered over to the left wall of the store—which was half covered in shelves and shelves of medicinal and magical herbs—and began spouting off names and placing the corresponding items on the counter.

            “Allspice, anemone, fennel, galangal…” Dirk continued to list items as Todd looked on, a bit surprised that Dirk wasn’t running out of breath.

            When Dirk finally finished, he walked over to a table near the window. “And I’ll throw in some rose quartz, since that’s a good remedy for most things.” He added, picking up a pale pink stone and placing it on the table next to the rest of the haul.

            Todd looked silently from the pile of items on the counter to the rest of the store, his eyes eventually settling on the cat, which hadn’t moved.

            “No offense, but this is a _weird_ magic store.” He said, keeping eye contact with the feline. “Not that I’ve been in many—any—magic stores in my life, but this is _not_ what I expected. Like, what’s with the gel pens?” Todd motioned to the boxes of assorted gel pens that Dirk had been shelving when he’d walked in. “And the keychains, and the alarm clocks?”

            Dirk smiled, it wasn’t the first time he’d gotten this question. “My magic style focuses on a lot of…alternative methods. It’s unorthodox, and it’s not very popular, but I’m the only legitimate magic shop in this part of town so I don’t really have to worry about that. The keychains are talismans, by the way. You can take one if you want—on the house. The Hello Kitty ones are for luck, the Webkinz are for health, and the Assassin’s Creed ones are for prosperity.”

            Todd seemed to be fighting the urge to roll his eyes. Yeah, Dirk had seen guys like this before; guys who thought they were above people who were ‘superstitious’, and only believed in things that were right in front of them. Dirk decided to cut Todd some slack, though, since Amanda seemed to idolize him so much. Plus, this guy was kind of cute.

            Todd paid for all the items and gathered them up before trying and failing to make friendly eye contact with Dirk.

“Well, I’ll see you around I guess.” He mumbled, turning around and walking toward the door until diverting his course at the last second to grab an Assassin Creed keychain. Dirk smiled at Todd’s back as he walked out the door and down the street.

Dirk and the cat on the edge of the counter shared a knowing look as a pair of red eyes watched the whole debacle from the top of one of the shelves.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave any comments you might have!


	3. Keychain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Todd goes to work, but is somehow drawn back to that magic shop again...

Despite his gruff demeanor, Todd was prone to falling for people at a single glance. It would take almost nothing for him to develop a crush on someone who even glanced his way, and it absolutely infuriated him. The shop owner—Dirk—was sadly no different.

            Amanda—who had been able to read her brother like a book from birth—was the only person who knew about how easily infatuated Todd could become. In fact, the moment she saw his face after he got home and dumped the bags on the counter she just knew that he plan had worked.

            “So, didja like him?” she said, perched on the table next to the stove and smiling wildly.

            Todd stopped dead in his tracks. Amanda knew a face of realization when she saw one; he was onto her.

            “You planned this, didn’t you?” He said, expressionless. Amanda answered with a delighted giggle.

            “Goddammit, Amanda!” Todd growled, but he didn’t sound as angry as he felt he should. “I told you to stop doing this! I don’t _want_ to be set up with anyone.”

            Amanda sighed dramatically. “Don’t worry Todd, I’ve pretty much realized that trying to set you up with someone is a lost cause. I wasn’t lying when I said I couldn’t go myself. I just…really thought you two might hit it off.”

            Todd shifted his shoulders. “Well, we didn’t”

            Amanda smirked. “Yeah, right,” She said, her eyes drifting to the key chain Todd had hooked on his finger. Todd moved his hand behind his back embarrassedly when he saw where her eyes were wandering. He was half sure that she hadn’t seen what it was, but the subtext was there.

           

Todd managed not to think about the shop owner for a whole day before he mentioned him to Amanda again.

            “He doesn’t… _actually_ believe in all this witchy stuff right?” He said, refusing to make eye contact.

            “Who?” Amanda asked, smiling sweetly; clearly already very aware of who he was referring to.

            “Y’know, the shop owner—Dirk.”

            Amanda nodded. “Of course, he believes in it just as much as I do.”

            Todd looked down at his hands, drawing in his shoulders. He was suddenly very clearly uncomfortable. He always hated talking about Amanda’s belief in the occult. They’d gotten in countless arguments about it in the past, Todd trying to convince her that it was just a waste of money.

            He gave up after a while. He figured that if it wasn’t hurting her there was no point to protesting (although they were pretty strapped for cash at the moment, and it would’ve been better not to have to buy all these magic supplies every month in addition to meds and physical therapy).

            Amanda’s statement marked the end of the conversation, whether she had meant it to or not.

~~~

Once Todd was out of sight the black cat jumped from the dark corner of the room to the cat bed in the middle, her fur shining in the sunlight. She gave Dirk a look that could only be described as, well, just that— _a look_.

            Dirk returned with an expression as if he’d just gotten a rather strict scolding from his mother. He turned to avoid eye contact with her altogether, instead attempting to reach a box of pink heart-shaped pillows labelled ‘aphrodisiacs-DO NOT ACTIVATE’ from a high up shelf.

            “Well, he is a piece of work. Amanda wasn’t lying when she said that. I’m—I’m not really sure what I think of him.”

            The cat raised her eyebrows, or at least did whatever the cat version of raising one’s eyebrows would look like.

            The box was proving to be particularly hard to reach, even for someone as tall and gangly as Dirk. He eventually gave in, pulling a thick lilac branch out of a concealed pocket in his apron and pointing it at the box angrily. It began to move, seemingly of its own accord, lowering itself onto a table nearby.

            Dirk was still turned away from the cat, so he didn’t see her look of indignation throughout all this. She hated when he used magic anywhere public; they both knew what could happen if he was seen.

            “I don’t know.” Dirk continued smoothly as if nothing had happened. “Maybe I’ll never see him again; at this juncture we just can’t be sure.”

            The cat turned her back to Dirk and began grooming herself rather pompously. For a cat she managed to have the very human expression of “I know better than you” down to a science.

            “Well, you’re right about one thing.” Conceded Dirk. “He is rather cute.”

            “Meow.”

Todd fiddled with the keychain absent-mindedly throughout the day. He could only do it absent-mindedly, in fact, because whenever he realized what he was doing he would throw the thing down in partial disgust. He regretted multiple times having ever put the thing onto his keychain, but for whatever reason he wasn’t motivated enough to actually take it off.

            No one noticed Todd’s preoccupation with the small piece of metal—not that he had expected them to, his coworkers knew he liked to keep to himself. The only exception was his friend (“friend” being an extremely loose term in this instance) Sandra, who didn’t say anything because she knew him well enough not to stick her nose in his business. At least, she did for a while.

            Why is it always at the end of the day that people decide to bother you at work? How is ten minutes before six any more convenient than, say, noon? Or how about not at all?

            Sandra sauntered up to Todd’s register, her eyes not even bothering to avoid his fingers, which the keychain was stealthily curled around.

            “What’s that?” She says, her voice deceptively quiet for someone who could be so deeply annoying. “Did your _boyfriend_ give it to you?”

            Todd rolled his eyes. “Sandra, you know I’m not….Dating….anyone.” He said the last two words halfheartedly, realizing that he was insulting himself more than anything.

            She smiled slyly. “Where did you get it from, then?” Her voice dripping out of her mouth like molasses.

            Todd began spinning the keychain around on his finger. “I went shopping on my day off, to this magic shop Amanda goes to, to get treatments. The keychain is a talisman, it represents prosperity.”

            Sandra looked down at the spinning piece of metal, smiling. “Sorry to break it to ya, Todd, but that’s an Assassin’s Creed keychain, not a, a tailspin—or whatever. Whoever sold it to you scammed you, ya yokel.”

            Todd pondered this for a moment. He didn’t think it was a scam, but despite how short his time with Dirk had been he wouldn’t put it past the alleged witch. “It’s not a scam.” He said contemplatively.  “It can be both, a keychain _and_ a talisman. Plus I got it for free, so” He said it as if he’d won the argument, although he felt very much as if he hadn’t.

            Sandra looked intrigued. Todd felt regretful.

            “So who was there giving out free keychains? And what do you mean when you say ‘magic shop’? Like was it full of card decks and rabbits feet?”

            Todd suddenly felt the unexpected need to defend the magic shop, despite his every intuition saying to do the opposite.

            “Amanda’s friend gave it to me. I can’t remember his name.” Todd lied about that last part only to keep up his façade of fake detachment. “He runs a magic shop in town. Not that kind of magic, though. It’s like…did you ever have a Wiccan phase?”

            Sandra’s eye-rolling was absolutely audible. “Oh, so it’s _that_ kind of magic shop.”

            Todd resisted the urge to snap at her, once again wondering why he was getting so freakin’ defensive.

            “So this guy, this shop owner.” Continued Sandra, not even noticing the fiery look she’d ignited in Todd’s eyes. “What prompted him to give you a _free_ tailsmain, or, whatever?”

            The question came as a bit of a shock to Todd, wondering how he hadn’t asked this question himself earlier.

            “He was giving them out for free.” Todd lied without a second thought. “I wasn’t the only one who got one.”

            Sandra looked simultaneously unconvinced and resigned to the fact that she couldn’t prove him wrong.

She shrugged. “If you say so.” This was as far as their friendship would allow the conversation to go. Sandra didn’t know enough about Todd to press on; in fact he was still wondering how she’d managed to figure out that he was into dudes.

 _One thing’s for sure._ Todd thought as he watched Sandra sashay back to her desk. _Amanda definitely can’t know about that conversation._

~~~

            Todd had never noticed that the route to Amanda’s physical therapist passed by Dirk’s store, but he sure did now. He tried not to stare at the keychain Dirk had given him as he drove down the street leading up to it, pushing this fact to the back of his mind.

            He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about what Sandra had said. He hadn’t even thought to wonder why Dirk had given him this lucky talisman…

            _Which doesn’t even work._ Todd thought.

 _Wait. That’s could be my excuse._ Todd immediately scolded himself for having such thoughts, but he was already pulling into the parking space inside of Dirk’s tiny storefront, somehow without even noticing. Todd wondered if his body really was working against him, or if it actually knew what he wanted better than he did.

Todd stalked into the store, dangling the keychain on his finger accusingly.

This time Dirk was leaning into the storage closet at the back of the room. Todd did his best not to let his eyes graze over Dirk’s shapely ass as he cleared his through at loudly as he could.

Dirk shot into the standing position, gripping a box of what looked like rubber pom-poms. He turned severely, serving up a rictus smile when he saw that it was Todd standing at the door.

“Hey…Todd.” He said, placing the box on the counter and padding over to where the other man was standing. “Whaaaat are you here about?”

Todd seemed to almost forget the answer that he’d rehearsed in the car, choking on his words as they came out.

“I…uh--” He held out the keychain as if it was going to explain anything. “This doesn’t work.”

Dirk’s raised his eyebrows, looking almost offended for a moment. He walked even closer to Todd to get a better look at the small hunk of metal, eventually taking it out of Todd’s hand. He absentmindedly breathed on it and polished it with his apron, which said the name of the store across the front in bright pink calligraphy as if someone looking at him might forget what shop they were in.

Dirk shrugged, handing it back to Todd. “Seems find to me.” His long, pale fingers made a dismissive gesture in Todd’s general direction. “These things take time, anyway. Besides; it’s a pretty rudimentary spell. You can’t expect to buy a winning lottery the first day you have it. It’s more for small stuff; finding twenty dollars on the ground or something like that.”

Todd huffed. This answer was unexpectedly thorough, and he could feel his time in the store coming to a close much quicker than he’d expected. He was half aware of a large black cat sitting in the corner of the store, watching him accusingly.

“What are these?” He said, almost too hastily, turning away from Dirk and beginning to rummage through a plastic box full of what looked like average-sized pill boxes, the kind that had the day’s written on each compartment and wouldn’t look out of place in Amanda’s bathroom cabinet.

Dirk stumbled forward, caught off guard by the sudden change of subject. He was caught so off guard, in fact, that he didn’t get a chance to stop Todd before he opened one of the compartments.

The small plastic box snapped open and released, without warning, a pink puff of humid air. Todd only managed to pull his face away the last second before it reached his face.

Dirk snatched the box out of Todd’s hands, waving his hands frantically as if to disperse a particularly bad smell. He let out a breath that he’d been holding in.

“Sleeping powder.” He panted. “The strongest I can make. You didn’t breathe any in, did you? Well, of course you didn’t, or else you’d be lying out cold on the floor.”

As this jumble of words fell one after the other out of Dirk’s mouth, Todd realized what time it was. Or rather, he realized that if he stayed in the store for even one more second he’d probably make an even bigger fool of himself. He saw the large cat sitting behind Dirk. It was staring at him as if it was ready to pounce at any moment if he stepped out of line, and Todd got the feeling deep in his gut that this was the closest he would ever get to coming face to face with a Bengal tiger.

His phone was out of his pocket faster than the human eye could track, and the words “I gotta go,” Were out of his mouth at twice that speed. Dirk didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye as Todd shot out the front of the store, almost breaking the small bell hanging over it in the process.

The cat mewed at him on his way out, sounding as close to satisfied as a cat could sound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave comments!


	4. Sunbathing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Todd has a weird-ass dream and finally makes plans to go back to Dirk's

Todd didn’t know why he was up so late, sitting in the kitchen of his parent’s old house instead of lying in bed where he should be if he wanted to be conscious at work the next morning.

            He was hardly conscious even now. There was a half-empty mug of foggy water sitting in his hands, and he was gripping onto it like life itself. His eyes were glazed over as he stared off at nothing into particular, turning over his earlier interaction with Dirk that day in his mind.

            Todd didn’t get a chance to get very deep into his reverie, however; before he could, a pale hand landed on his shoulder.

            Todd jumped and turned around abruptly to find his sister’s equally tired face staring back at him. She let out a terse, half-hearted laugh.

            Todd’s eyes followed Amanda around the room the way eyes do when they’re too tired to be bothered with social norms. He watched as she poured herself a weirdly tall glass of milk.

            She turned back to him and lowered herself onto the table.

            “Oh right, you’re here.”

            Todd sighed. Even for someone with an arguably shitty life, Amanda had a relatively happy disposition, especially compared to her brother. So, when she was sad, it was blaringly obvious and probably brought your mood down a by quite a bit, too (In this way Todd didn’t doubt that his sister had some kind of magical powers).

            Have out of a wish to bring up her spirits and half to break the silence, Todd’ hoarse voice spoke;

            “Sorry about earlier.”

            Amanda snorted. “About what? Belittling my beliefs or getting angry at me for trying to treat myself?”

            Todd knew that this wasn’t the best time to argue. “Both.”

            Amanda sat down slowly at the table and took a long draw from her glass of milk and inspected the grain of the wood of the table, which was lined with scratches that each represented a memory from their childhood. She scratched away at them with her neon-painted nails.

            “It’s alright.” She said finally, allowing Todd to let out a breath he’d been holding for at least the last two minutes.

            There was silence for what could’ve been three minutes or thirty; night-time can be strange in that way.

            “I do like Dirk.” Todd said finally, his voice sounding strained like he hadn’t used it in years. “I mean, I don’t know him very well… but he seems nice.”

            Amanda smiled, her usual glow returning. She outstretched her hands so they were cupped in the middle of the table, perhaps in a show of concession.

            “But what’s like, his deal?” continued Todd. “Like, can he really do magic. What am I saying, not one can do magic.” Todd stopped to let himself re-gather his thoughts. “Where did he…come from?”

            Amanda drew small concentric circles on the table with her finger. “I don’t know, Todd, I…I know it’s weird. I think something…. _happened_ to him. He always acts like he’s being, like, chased or something. Like someone’s looking for him.”

            Todd sighed, his eyes unmoving from their place on the tabletop. He didn’t know what to do with this information, but it did serve to worsen the bad feeling in his gut. He felt his sister smile at the top of his head.

            “We should go visit him over the weekend.”

            Todd didn’t nod, instead choosing to stare at a stain on the floor, but the agreement was clear.

~~~

            Dirk spent days thinking about his and Todd’s first two meetings.

            Dirk was never very good at successfully interacting with people, and it didn’t help that Todd seemed to be even more of an enigma than the normal person. Where Dirk wore his emotions on his brightly-colored sleeves, Todd seemed to keep his deeply under wraps.

            His cat, however, seemed to have already forgotten entirely about Todd’s visits. She’d moved on to other things, mainly sunbathing and watching Dirk from corners of the room where he could feel her gaze on him but couldn’t actually see her.

            “Well, Farah, you at least seem a lot less stressed since you became a cat permanently.” Remarked Dirk to a seemingly empty room.

            Farah jumped out into the sunlight and looked at him somewhat incredulously (Dirk had gotten embarrassingly good at reading the expressions of cats since knowing Farah).

            Dirk raised his hands in a gesture of surrender; “or not.”

Dirk’s phone buzzed persistently in his pocket. His heart skipped a beat when he saw that the predicate was a text from Amanda.

“Todd and I are coming by later,” It read; “Be prepared”.

Dirk had absolutely know what ‘be prepared’ meant, although it sounded delightfully ominous and succeeded in giving him a horrible feeling in his gut. He shivered visibly.

Suddenly Farah was behind him, staring up at him with those sad, black eyes; clearly saying something like ‘you wanted him to come back again so badly, and now he is. You brought this upon yourself.’

Dirk hated how right she was, a feeling he had become well accustomed to in the years since Farah had become his familiar. Most of the time he knew that he deserved it but didn’t want to admit this fact.

Dirk began tidying up, guessing that that was what ‘be prepared’ meant in the simplest terms. He didn’t see the eyes watching him from the crack in the supply closet, and if he did he didn’t acknowledge them, probably believing them to be Farah’s.


	5. Dark Suits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened here?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter turned out weirdly longer than the others, sorry. Leave any comments you have!   
> (art included by the wonderful pumpkino on tumblr!)

Todd didn’t know what he was planning on doing when he arrived at Dirk’s store. He had told himself that he was only going in order to supervise Amanda, an excuse that he had given many times, even since they were children.

            This wasn’t true, though (not that Todd would admit it).

The thought of seeing Dirk again incited an emotion in Todd that was almost like excitement, although he knew that that couldn’t be it.

            The drive over to the shop was surprisingly peaceful; neither of them spoke but it wasn’t the angry silence of a couple days before. At this point Todd had entirely gotten over the thing with the potion; Amanda hadn’t died since drinking it so he thought it was safe to assume that she wouldn’t in the near future, at least not from that.

            He still thought it was _weird_ , though; but he knew that Dirk probably didn’t have the audacity to give Amanda something that had the possibility of hurting her.

            Besides, Amanda hadn’t had an attack in almost a week now. At the very back of his mind Todd entertained the thought that Dirk’s magic potion had actually _helped_ her, although he didn’t dare give it any more thought than that.

            On the drive over to the magic shop Todd tried in vain to ignore all the different _feelings_ he was having (besides everything else the tugging feeling from his dream a couple nights ago had decided to plant itself in his stomach since then, giving him the feeling of being in a constant state of heartburn). He instead focused on the relief of getting Amanda to leave the house, an ordeal that usually took at least thirty minutes or more each trip. He was lucky that she had finally gotten used to visiting the physical therapist; the first time they’d gone she’d grabbed onto the door frame of her apartment and against his better judgment, Todd had had to pull her off by her waist.

            They finally parked outside the store, which was squeezed between a pizza shop and a pet store, a situation that probably didn’t smell very good during the hotter days of summer. Amanda stared at her hands where they were folded in her lap, breathing rhythmically as she usually did when she was preparing herself to go out in public.

            They stepped wordlessly out of the car, and suddenly Amanda’s mood did a totally 180. She was smiling brightly and boring holes into her brother’s head.

            “You ready?”

            Todd sighed. This was all the answer she was getting.

            Todd trailed behind Amanda as she wandered into the store, stopping when something shiny on the sidewalk caught his eye. Todd had an eye for shiny things.

            He crouched down and cradled in his hand what looked like a piece of pirate gold, shiny and surreal like something from a dream. Todd was hit like a train with a wave of déjà vu.

            Todd didn’t get a chance to process anything, because suddenly Amanda had bolted back out of the storefront, her expression grave.

            “Todd, you’re going to want to see this.”

            Todd pocketed the coin and rushed inside after his sister.

~~~

            Dirk heard the bell on the door tinkle, and he tried to pretend his back didn’t get totally rigid.

            “Hey Amanda, Todd.” He said, as nonchalantly as he could sound at the moment, which wasn’t much. He turned stiffly, only to find that his fear was actually much more warranted than he’d thought.

            A tall man in a dark suit was parked just inside the door to the shop, wearing what was clearly a very well-practiced ‘intimidating look’. And it wasn’t for naught either; Dirk was, in fact, very intimidated.

            The man had a bright yellow patch affixed to the breast pocket, the shape of which struck up a feeling of vague recognition at the back of Dirk’s mind. The man wore it with what seemed like a mix of pride and anger at the fact it was ruining his otherwise impeccable outfit.

            Dirk’s hand gripped the edge of the counter until his knuckles were white; with his other hand he attempted to stealthily pull the wand out of his pocket. Farah watched the progression of events from a darkened shelf in the corner of the ceiling, debating what time would be best to pounce.

            “Dirk Gently.” Questioned the man. That’s what it was, rather than a statement; a question. He said it as if to confirm that he was in the right place, rather than to alert Dirk that he was here to injure him in some way.

            “That’s me.” Squeaked Dirk, surprised and angry at how much his voice betrayed his fear.

            “Good.” Said the man, stepping softly forward. His voice was unexpectedly unintimidating; he sounded like a male model, but not the kind you’re thinking of. He sounded dumb, like a child in a man’s body.

            Dirk’s hand finally lunged for the wand in his pocket, but his timing was bad. The man saw it.

            “Don’t even bother.” Stated the man. He snapped his fingers and suddenly the wand that Dirk had cradled in his hand flew across the room and into the hand of the other man. Dirk was astonished for the moment at the man’s power, until he saw the faint aura around his hand.

            Looking at the man’s hand as it held Dirk’s wand, it felt like looking at the physical manifestation of a scream. Whatever kind of magic the man was using, it was strong, but it didn’t belong to him.

            “Rugby.” The man said tersely; not to Dirk, though, but rather to the empty air in front of him. He held out his arm as if to receive a falcon or someone’s coat.

Dirk puzzled at what he might mean.

  _Perhaps it’s some kind of code word._ He thought. _Maybe he put cameras in my shop when I wasn’t looking…_

            Dirk didn’t have to wonder any longer, however, because there came a crash from behind him as a large, black, scaly mass launched itself towards Dirk before flying over his head towards the man and landing neatly on his arm.

            The thing, which appeared to have just broken at least one of the display tables in the store, looked like some kind of bastardized monkey. Its scales were almost so dark that it looked simply like a constantly shifting mass of black, save for its eyes, which glowed red and were so fixed on Dirk that he felt more planted in his own grim reality than he ever had.

            Dirk recognized those eyes, but he didn’t know how. He remembered them…remembered getting glances of them from dark corners of the room.

            Dirk could hardly fathom how unbelievably stupid he’d been. It’d been watching him for all that time…

            Once the beast landed gracefully on the man’s arm they both grinned, their smiles equal in their ability to strike fear in Dirk’s heart.

            “You look like a fucking Disney villain.” Dirk’s voice wavered as he said it, but his words caused the man’s smile to falter.

            “Thanks.” He snapped back after formulating his answer for a long while. He regained his composure. “We’re here, well…you know why we’re here.”

            “As a matter of fact, I don’t.” It was true. Dirk rarely knew anything _at all,_ and this situation was no different.

            The man turned to look at the demon perched on his arm.

            “Rugby.” He said again. Then, as if he had given him very distinct and detailed instructions, the demon whipped out its tail and pounced towards Dirk, landing on his chest with atomic force.

            Dirk fell back onto the ground, all of the breath getting knocked out of him.

            He looked frantically up into the eyes of the demon which was currently looming over him.

            ‘ _What kind of name is ‘Rugby’ for a demon?’_ He pondered. Dirk had many very good ideas about what names demons should have, but he’d never had the good fortune of owning one. However, ‘Rugby’ was definitely not one of them.

            Then, a bunch of things happened, ostensibly all at once. First, the man began to say something, but before he could get it all out a large black streak shot towards him from somewhere along the ceiling. There wasn’t enough force to knock him down, however, and in a moment he had flung the thing to the ground; looking more offended than physically hurt.

            Dirk’s eyes focused on where the black streak had landed on the ground. He eventually deciphered the writhing mass to be something near cat like. He let out an absolutely inhuman sound.

            “Thanks for being so cooperative.” Said the man, the smile returning to his face.

 

 

 


	6. Ransacked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where is Dirk?

The store looked like it had been absolutely ransacked, which was totally a possibility at the moment. There were multiple tables that had been broken into pieces by some very determined force, and some off the merchandise had spilled from its boxes and coated the ground.

            There was one thing for sure, though; Dirk was not there. He was nowhere to be seen.

            Amanda wasn’t one to jump to conclusions in everyday life, at least she liked to think so. However; as far as she knew the store didn’t have any kind of storeroom, which, in her mind, left only one possible explanation: someone had come into the store, ransacked it, and _kidnapped Dirk._

            She pulled her brother into the store by his wrist, motioning to every piece of furniture and mess individually as if he couldn’t see them himself. His eyes grew wide.

            Todd wandered around the store, touching every tipped table and piece of debris separately like he was collecting some kind of meaning from each bit of broken wood.

            “Who could’ve done this?” Whispered Amanda urgently as if the person who had could still hear them. “Who would want to…to kidnap Dirk? Or to assault the store like this?”

            Todd didn’t move from where he was crouching on the floor.

            “Don’t jump to conclusions.” He snapped without looking at her. “We don’t know that Dirk has been kidnapped…like you said; no one has any reason to do that.”

            Amanda rubbed the back of her neck worriedly. She mumbled; “that we know of.”

            She stepped forward to inspect a pillow lying on the ground, but before she could get any further her foot screamed.

            Well, it didn’t _scream,_ per se, but when she took a step a scream-like sound did emit from the area around her foot.

            Amanda looked down urgently to find a large black lump lying next to it, the tail of which she had apparently stepped on.

            “Farah?” she gasped, removing her foot and crouching to inspect the feline.

            The cat meowed meekly in response, her voice clearly strained. Amanda began to stroke Farah’s thick and well-groomed fur, only for her hand to be stopped in its tracks by an area of warm, dark wetness. Amanda gasped.

            “Farah’s hurt.” She said, to no one in particular. Todd stood and looked at her but otherwise didn’t react. Farah meowed louder as if to say ‘I’m aware of this’.

            Amanda gingerly picked Amanda up and cradled her in her arms. She held her face close to the cat’s black muzzle.

            “Farah, I want to help you but I’m going to need you to turn back into a human.” She whispered, not sure why her voice had become so quiet. Farah mewed painfully.

            Todd wandered back outside quite aimlessly. He let his eyes wander over the scenery as he attempted to piece together what had happened, maybe see Dirk walking back to the store so he could explain everything.

            Todd’s eyes halted abruptly, however, and at first he didn’t know why. That’s when he saw it; two black streaks tracing their way down the road and out into the distance. Todd wasn’t particularly observant, but he knew for a fact that those streaks had not been there the last time he’d been to the shop. He walked over to get a closer look at them, and in the process he discovered small scrap of orange fabric, the exact color and quality of the fabric from Dirk’s apron. He stuffed it into his pocket.

            _Maybe Dirk really has been…kidnapped…_ He thought, realizing that he had been determined not to entertain the idea no matter how plausible it was increasingly becoming.

            He jogged back inside to find Amanda kneeling in the same spot on the floor where she had been when he left.

            Except something was different. Very different. In the space that had previously been occupied by a large black cat that Amanda had been cradling softly in her arms, there was now a full sized human woman which Amanda’s arms were struggling to support. This new mystery woman’s hand was doing a very bad job of covering a blossoming stain of blood that was slowly encroaching on her shirt.

            “What the fuck.” Stated Todd, so quietly that the other two people almost didn’t hear him.

            Amanda turned to look at her brother, her expression grave. “Right. Todd. This is…Farah. She’s…Dirk’s…cat.” There were big spaces between her words ass if she were having a hard time putting her sentences together. “She’s…hurt.” She finished. The woman gave out a pained groan as if to punctuate this statement. Amanda looked down at her.

            “Right.” She said again, finally sounding ready to take initiative. She motioned to Todd. “Could you take her for a moment? I need to get some supplies together.”

            Todd nodded, too confused by this flurry of events to argue. He took Amanda’s place at Farah’s side as she got up and started walking urgently around the store.

            Todd looked down into the face of the woman. He didn’t believe for a second that she was Dirk’s cat, because of course that kind of thing is totally impossible.

            She was hot, though.

            “Are you really…uh…” Todd, too, seemed to be having a hard time being coherent. “Are you okay?”

            The woman looked up at him, her eyes glazed. She was clearly woozy from her very prominent flesh wound.

            “I don’t like you very much.” She stated, as resolutely as if she had been perfectly conscious. Todd blinked a couple times in quick succession but didn’t reply.

            Finally Amanda returned with an armful of ingredients from around the store, some of which Todd recognized from Dirk’s healing potion. She handed her brother a rag.

            “Here. Put pressure on the wound.” She commanded before beginning to mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl.

            Todd pressed the rag onto Farah’s wound, causing her to hiss like a hot pan or, well, a cat. His face flushed and he began to sweat even more than he already was.

            “Sorry.”

            Finally Amanda seemed to have successfully concocted a successful healing potion. She moved it towards Farah’s face, forcing her to drink.

            “I’m not a very good witch.” She stated. “And I don’t have all the ingredients I need, so this potion isn’t going to last very long, but…I think it’ll be long enough.”

            Farah finished the potion, pushing the bowl away from her face and for a moment making an expression like she’d just drank a quart of lemon juice. Todd hazarded a glance down at the wound and was surprised to find that it had begun to shrink, however minutely. It did this for a while before stopping just short of healing all the way, looking at least like a thirty day old scar instead of a thirty minute old one. This was in fact, the moment when Todd became totally and entirely convinced that he was dreaming.

            Amanda finally relaxed a bit when she saw the results of her handiwork and turned to look Farah in her eyes, which were much clearer and more unwavering now.

            “What _the fuck_ happened here?” She asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave any comments you have!


	7. Ride Along

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Farah and Todd need to find Dirk, before it's too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another way long chapter! Leave comments, they make me a better writer!

The back of the unmarked military van was cold and unforgiving, but Dirk considered himself no stranger to cold and unforgiving places.

            He could no longer tell where they were going, his navigational skills worth absolutely nothing if he didn’t have his wand on hand. He simply let himself be bounced across what felt like way too many potholes and think about what he’s done.

            He hated how easily he’d given himself up, but he’d seen how the man had let his disgusting pet have a go at Farah and he very much didn’t want to see it again.

            Not matter how much fun it was, however, Dirk liked to do his best not to wallow and instead tried to piece together what had happened.

            The man in the dark suit, who was part of whatever organization was causing Dirk so much trouble, had admitted once getting him into the car that they had been watching him for a while. He said he could tell that Dirk had a lot of potential magic-wise (a statement that seemed utterly implausible from Dirk’s perspective). They wanted him to be their battery.

            That was the way the man had phrased it, sounding exactly as practiced and scripted as everything else he said; “ _we want you to be our battery”._ The mere statement sent chills down Dirk’s spine as he remember the aura of the man’s glove, that of stolen magic.

            Dirk vaguely remembered being approached a couple months before by a portly mustachioed man who resembled a washed-up Santa Claus, and who had worn the same symbol.

            _That’s where I must remember it from…_ thought Dirk, although this answer didn’t seem anywhere near satisfactory.

            The other, much friendlier man had given Dirk an offer that sounded very similar, an offer to join their organization. He had described Dirk as having ‘potential’ as well. And he, too, had that same aura—that of someone screaming out in pain—only lesser

            It wasn’t often that Dirk made good decisions, but his decision to ignore this first man was one of the best he ever made. If only this second encounter had been so easy.

            Dirk was so lost in thought that he hardly noticed that the van was slowing down until it came to a full stop, slamming his already pounding head into the hard metal of the wall.

            A moment later the back door of the van swung open, letting bright spring sunlight flood the back and once again worsening Dirk’s formidable headache. Before his eyes even adjusted to the new deluge of light he was being pulled out onto the dusty ground by the chain of his handcuffs.

~~~

            Farah filled them in on the details of the assault on the store, he voice becoming increasingly strained up until she described her own failure in protecting Dirk, at which point she broke altogether. It was clear that if she went any further she would burst into tears, an act which seemed totally out of character for her.

            Despite the fact that Todd didn’t believe for a second that Farah actually _was_ Dirk’s cat (although he hadn’t yet seen the cat since walking back into the store), her story did sound plausible and Todd was inclined to believe it.

            The three of them sat in silence for a minute, each dealing with this series of events in their own ways. Todd was the first to break the silence.

            “Well, what do we _do_? Like do we follow them or what?”

            The two women looked at Todd and then at each other, as if communicating something that they assumed Todd wouldn’t understand. Amanda nodded minutely.

            “I could track him, but I’d need something that belongs to him and we don’t-” Todd stopped Amanda’s sentence in its tracks as he lunged to pull something out of his pocket, a small square of orange fabric.

            “This belonged to Dirk, it-it was part of his apron I think.” He huffed. Amanda nodded and pulled the fabric out of her brother’s hand, already formulating the ingredients to her spell in her head. She tried not to think about how tired all this magic was making her, or the fact that she could feel her week-old healing potion finally wearing off…

Chapter 7

Dirk stared down at the scuffed knees of his dress pants, lamenting the fact that the longer he knelt in the dusty ground the harder it would be to get the stains out. The thought of being alive to do laundry helped distract him from the monsoon-sized panic attack he was on the verge of.

            He refused to look up at the man in the dark suit, but he still knew he was there. He could feel his muscular figure looming over him, complete with a large mass of a demon on his shoulder.

            “Get up.” Said the man roughly. Dirk still didn’t look up at him. His head still hurt, in fact the pounding pain seemed to be getting steadily worse.

            “I don’t-“ Dirk couldn’t finish his protest because before he could he received a swift kick in the gut. He bent over even further, his stomach hurting as bad as, well, as bad as a swift kick in the gut.

            “Well you’ve really only made it” *gasp* “harder for me now.” He wheezed. Luckily he didn’t say it loud enough for the man to hear.

            Dirk struggled to stand, one limb after the other working to support him with agonizing slowness. The man’s patience was very clearly dwindling, his gloved fists balled at his sides.

            Finally, Dirk was standing as resolutely as he could, surprised to find that he was eye-to-eye with the other man despite how small he was currently feeling in comparison.

            Out of the corner of his eye Dirk could see other people in combat clothes gathered in groups around where he was standing, each of them holding a gun that was cloaked in the same sinister aura as the man in front of him. He did his best to ignore them.

            “Let’s go.” Said the man as he began to walk away, yanking Dirk’s chain along with him.

            That was when Dirks saw it; a small building like a remote power station with a giant metal coil planted in the middle. There was only one door into the building and they were heading straight for it, causing the already sickly feeling in Dirk’s stomach to climb its way up to his chest.

            He hazarded a look to his left, surprised by how far away the city looked from where he was standing.

            It was then, though, that Dirk saw the white and orange van hurtling towards them, the one that his kidnapped and his lackeys hadn’t yet seen. Dirk squinted at the van, trying to make sure that he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. He could recognize that color scheme anywhere.

            Dirk’s storage van grew and grew until it was mere yards away. By then the men in military drew had noticed it and had begun to turn the barrels of their guns towards it.

            Finally the van came to an abrupt stop. Everyone but the man in the dark suit—who was still attempting to pull a stationary Dirk towards the door—stood totally still waiting for someone to exit the van.

            So they were all quite surprised when the van didn’t open its doors, but instead just sat there for a moment before bursting into the brightest light they had ever seen.

~~~

            “Does Dirk keep any, uh, weapons in here?” Todd asked hesitantly, a question he’d never thought he’d ask.

            Amanda looked like she wanted to laugh but knew that it wasn’t the time. Todd noticed that she was looking uncharacteristically pale, at which point he decided resolutely to ignore this fact. They had enough trouble on their hands already.

            “Does Dirk really seem like the kind of person to own weapons?” She mumbled, seemingly more to herself than anything.

            Farah shrugged earnestly. “The only thing Dirk owned that could be considered a weapon was his wand, and we don’t know where that it. However…” She looked off into the distance, looking like she was carrying something very heavy on her back.

            “However what?” Todd said, his voice breaking slightly.

            “Well…” she began wandering over to the storage closet at the back of the store. “Before I became a cat permanently my job was to protect Dirk.” After he settled down he said I wouldn’t need any of my weapons anymore but…I kept some that he doesn’t…really…know about…” She reached for a box on the top shelf at the very back of the closet. It fell into her arms and she strained to hold it, as if it was heavy even for her.

            Todd didn’t know what he’d been expecting when he’d opened the box, but he wasn’t surprised by what he saw. There were plenty of clearly magic items, small bags the size of hand grenades and bottles of assorted potions. The main thing that attracted Todd’s eyes, however, were the almost a dozen guns of different shapes and sizes. He resisted the urge to let out a girlish gasp.

            Amanda peaked over her brother’s shoulder to see what was in her box. She laughed. “Well, Dirk definitely wouldn’t like that but…those are really fucking cool.”

            She stepped away and looked at the other two. “So, are we ready to go?”

            Todd turned to his sister, his eyebrows shooting towards his hairline.

            “You are _not_ coming with us. Don’t think I can’t tell how tired you are. That potion must be wearing off. If you don’t go home now you’ll have an attack out _in public._ I’ll call you a cab.”

            Amanda crossed her arms huffily. She didn’t respond, but she seemed resigned to the situation.

            Farah and Todd climbed into the shipping van that Dirk kept behind the store a couple minutes later. Farah place the stick that Amanda had enchanted to track Dirk’s scent, and immediately it turned abruptly to point around the corner and down the street.

 Todd waved at Amanda as they pulled out of the alley, comforted at least by the assumption that his sister would be safe.


	8. Dazed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes it's good to cry, as long as you pick yourself up afterwards.

Todd doesn’t pride himself for his emotional intelligence, so he pretends not to notice when Farah starts to cry. She does it soundlessly, tears streaming down her otherwise unmoved expression. Todd has no idea what to do.

            “So, uh, you’re a cat.” Todd says bluntly, still not totally sure of what’s going on. The van hits a speed bump.

            Farah doesn’t seem offended or anything, only relieved to have something to take her mind off of her tears.

            “I’m a familiar.” She says bluntly. She paused for a moment only to realize that Todd has no idea what she’s talking about. She sighed.

            “A familiar is something a witch gets when they’re young. We’re supposed to uh…protect them, I guess. Help them figure out their powers and everything.”

            “And can all familiars turn into animals?”

            “The question is more, can all familiars turn into humans, which, no, not all of us can. I used to do it more often but… something happened. There was a time when I wasn’t able to protect Dirk well enough and I…got cursed. It became harder and harder for me to become human.” She laughed, clearly realizing how similar their situation was to what she’d just described. “This is the first time I’ve been human in…years, actually.” She seemed to only just realize how long it had been.

            Todd didn’t understand everything that Farah was saying, but it seemed to be distracting her from her tears, so he decided to keep going.

            “Was Dirk hard to take care of, when he was little?” Todd still didn’t know dirk very well, but from what he could tell he had probably been a very…difficult child.

            Farah laughed again, softer this time. “Yeah, he was.” She paused for a moment. “Once he tried to use his wand to fill up the bathtub, just because he could. He ended up flooding most of the house.” The memory brought a smile to her face, and Todd felt as if he’d done a pretty good job of cheering her up, something he was usually quite bad at.

~~~

            Todd and Farah knew that they would only have a moment before the grenade potion would wear off of all those men that had them surrounded, each holding one of those very big guns…

            Therefore they had to act fast. Farah assured Todd that she was a very good shot and would be able to take out a couple of the guys with some bullet wounds in some non-fatal areas. Todd would be concerned with, at the correct moment, having to lunge to the man who had Dirk chained and was yanking him like a dog towards the solitary brick building.

            The first part of the plan seemed to go fine, resulting in many of the armed military men lying on the ground clutching their kneecaps and helmets in pain. Looking out at the scene before him, full of men lying and gripping different parts of their bodies in pain, Todd repressed the need to yell out in triumph. The sickly feeling that had been sitting in his stomach for days now and had solidified in the past few hours seemed to lift, if only for a moment.

            It was good, though, that Todd didn’t get his hopes up. Things only seemed to go downhill from there; there were still a lot of uninured men left and they were recovering from the effects of the grenade pretty fast, as was the man who was holding Dirk’s chains.

            Todd gripped the Taser that Farah had given him determinedly in his hand and prepared to run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comment!! pls!!


	9. Buzzing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dirk gets the headache of his life

Dirk’s head buzzed, his eyes squeezed tightly shut. He was absolutely positive for a while that this was what going blind felt like, that he was going blind at this very moment. He heard someone yell out the word ‘cinnamon’ in a strangled tone.

            The persistent ringing and buzzing and temporary blindness did subside, however, at least a little—although Dirk suspected that if he lived through this event his headache now wouldn’t go away for weeks.

            As his eyes adjusted Dirk could already feel the man in the dark suit tugging him towards the house once again, although his yanking was much less forceful than before.

            Dirk’s eyes finally began to adjust, everything appearing as colorful blobs. There was one blob in particular that caught his eye, a short brown one that had begun making its way toward him very quickly. It became more and more human shaped before stopping in its tracks and turning to go back to the truck. Dirk only recognized the blob as Todd in the last second before he disappeared behind the truck.

~~~

            Todd wasn’t at all ready to make his move, but he knew it was now or never, so he did it anyway.

            His legs were moving before he could even tell them to, launching him towards Where Dirk and the tall man were still crouched on the ground, clutching his head.

            Todd was making such good progress in his new project of running towards the man in the dark suit, Taser in hand, when he heard the sound coming from inside the van that ended up stopping him in his tracks. It was a hollow metal banging, as if they’d trapped some kind of animal in the back of the van and it was just now trying to escape.

            Todd looked on to where Dirk was kneeling, still a couple yards away. He stared down at the Taser in his hand, his mind suddenly feeling sluggish. He finally turned on his heel and ran back to the van.

~~~

Amanda knew that she wasn’t making the smartest move by getting into the van without her brother even knowing, but she was doing it anyway. She really was worried about Dirk’s wellbeing, and she didn’t trust her brother in the slightest to successfully retrieve him (the supervision of Farah did change her opinion, but only a bit).

The farther the van took her from the shop the less Amanda felt that this was a good idea, and the less she thought it was a good idea the harder it became to turn back.

She shivered and a feeling of dread began to flood her stomach. She knew what this feeling meant, the feeling as if each and every one of her nerves was electrically charged, buzzing slightly but enough that it was almost audible. This was the feeling she always had before having an attack.

Amanda’s heart began to beat quicker and quicker, and she couldn’t tell if it was the anxiety or the oncoming pararibulitis attack that was causing it. She was so preoccupied with her physical symptoms that she hardly noticed that the van had begun to slow.

As her symptoms began to build Amanda’s fear grew and grew until she looked down to find that both her hands were enveloped in blue flames.

Every part of her mind that knew that what she saw wasn’t really happening seemed to dissipate and she was totally encompassed by the feeling of being enflamed as she watched the fire begin to climb like a feral animal up her arms. It ate her sleeves and then did the same to the skin underneath without hesitation. She watched as giant burn marks blossomed on her skin, connecting to each other like puddles during rain until her arms were one giant lake of red.

Amanda began kicking against the door of the van, not because she was trying to get out but because she no longer seemed to have control over her limbs.

Everything was fire. The entire van was full of it like the fire was water and she was its victim getting drowned, drowned, drowned. The door to the van opened but Amanda didn’t notice, she had her eyes squeezed shut to keep them from getting totally fried.

Something like arms wrapped around Amanda’s shoulders as she curled further and further into herself, wishing that she could get so small that she would just disappear.

She recognized her brother’s voice yelling at her through the sound of lapping flames but she couldn’t for the life of her tell what he was saying.

Suddenly Todd’s hands were yanked away from her and Amanda was plunged into cold, pleasing darkness.


	10. Blame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes it's hard to know where to place the blame.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another long chapter, hope you like it!

Todd didn’t know what he had been expecting to see when he opened the door to the van, but his sister writhing on the ground and clutching her arms was not one of them. Todd didn’t have time to be angry, he was preoccupied more with his astonishment and fear.

            He jumped into the back of the van and wrapped his sister, not sure what to do. They had different protocols for different types of attacks, but whenever he tried to ask what was happening she didn’t respond, her screams only getting louder and more frequent.

            Todd’s heart broke as he saw the van door open wider and more men in dark military clothes climbed in, pulling his sister away from him and dragging both of them away.

            “This is way harder than it’s gotta be.” Mumbled the man in the dark suit.

~~~

            In the end, Farah only really considered this yet another failure on her ever-growing list of failures.

            Her head hurt where the man had hit her over the head, but seeing Dirk tied to the giant tesla-coil, about to go through whatever kind of torture the man in the dark suit had planned because of mistakes _she_ had made hurt one thousand times worse.

            She should’ve been better at protecting Dirk back at the shop, she shouldn’t have waited so long to make her move.

            She should’ve double checked that Amanda hadn’t stowed away, should’ve _known_ that she wouldn’t have the impulse control not to follow. Now, seeing Amanda curled in a ball on the ground in the corner of the building felt almost as bad as seeing Dirk tied up.

            She should’ve been faster and shot more of the men, maybe she should’ve been willing to stoop to killing…

            And finally, she shouldn’t have waited so many years to become human again. She shouldn’t have let her guard down like that, should’ve known that someone or something would come for Dirk eventually, no matter how long it took. Constant vigilance.

            So needless to say, Farah was feeling pretty defeated. That feeling she sometimes got, the itching feeling at the back of her mind that asked her if any of this was really worthwhile had awoken itself.

            She tried desperately to fight all her negativity, even more than usual, as she watched the man struggle to set up the many wires and chords that constituted the machine in the middle of the building, the purpose of which no one quite understood yet. She gnashed her teeth and strained angrily against the ropes that the militant men had restrained her with, looking not unlike a caged feline.

            She’d already considered turning back into a cat in order to slip from her bonds, but no matter how hard she concentrated she couldn’t. She only managed to pull of painful memories of hours spent trying to turn human, just to be disappointed time and time again.

She remembered turning back at the shop, tried to remember what she’d been feeling at the time. All she could recall was a deep sense of urgency and instinct to go help Dirk. Maybe this situation just wasn’t urgent enough.

~~~

            The dull sense of panic that had been building somewhere in Dirk’s chest finally seemed to come to a head when the man began tying him to the ludicrous-looking tesla coil.

            Now, Dirk had _heard_ of the so-called fight or flight reflex that human beings are supposed to come pre-packaged with, but he had remained skeptical of this theory all his life. The reason for this was that, in any situation where he might come to bodily harm, Dirk had always taken the totally novel route of running his mouth off and/or fainting, perhaps trapped somewhere between the two main options.

            And this situation was no different.

            Dirk knew in some part of his mind that this man would hurt him if he talked too much, but the ide didn’t seem to fully register with him.

            “So, this machine, what does it do exactly?” He said, sounding more like they were chatting nicely over tea rather than their current situation, which was much more urgent, needless to say.

            “Because I’ve heard of _charging_ spells before.” Said Dirk thoughtfully. “But I don’t think I’ve ever heard of _stealing_ magic before. Although that’s neither here nor there, since I’m not really that connected to the witching community.”

            The handsome man in the dark suit cinched the ropes tighter almost vengefully. He let out an audible sigh.

            “You—you talk to fucking much.” The man remarked. He sounded more like a scrawny teenager who knew they’d been given way too much responsibility compared to their level ability. “Shut up. Just. Just let me do what I need to do.”

            “Very well.” Dirk sighed. Just then he heard the slithering of what sounded like thick, heavy ropes. His the feeling in his chest finally released, making it feel like someone had his heart and lungs in a vice. He felt a shiver run down his spine.

~~~

Todd was feeling appropriately defeated as he knelt next to Farah, ropes binding his ankles and wrists. His arms and head hurt like hell in the places where he had been gripped and pulled inside, and then subsequently knocked over the head for no conceivable reason.

            He looked over at where Farah was kneeling, her head bowed in obvious defeat. She looked how he felt.

            He gave up pretty quickly on trying to get her attention, knowing that if she still had the ability to change she already would have. He didn’t blame her, either way. Mostly he blamed himself. The feeling was familiar.

            He had no practice with escaping bondage, a fact which he had always thought made him lucky but he now realized only made him inexperienced.

He felt at the topes for a weak point. They were very thick, not great for mobility but easy to untie. At least, Todd thought so. He struggled to get his fingers in between the ropes, but he was making hardly any leeway before the man seemed to finish tying up Dirk and positioned himself in the center of the room. At some point the coil had begun to pulse with a sinister purple energy.

The man held what looked like a large metal stake in his gloved hand, the other end of which was attached to a thick wire that snaked up to the machine. He looked down at it with a certain…hunger.

Todd subconsciously began working harder at his ropes.

Suddenly there was a stabbing pain in his arm, and he looked down to find a giant black mass of scales and nightmares staring up at him with bright red eyes. Todd didn’t jump, he simply froze in place and stared. The thing pointed at him accusingly and then dragged its horrible mass to sit next to the man in the center of the room. The position looked strangely fitting for him.

The man finally seemed ready to make his move. He opened his mouth as if preparing to speak, but said nothing. He closed it and then opened it again.

“Fuck this shit.”

He then turned and drove the stake through Dirk’s right shoulder. That was when everything went to shit.


	11. Power

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deus ex Machina to the rescue, I guess. Sometimes the universe has to intervene.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter, another long one. Hope you enjoyed it! Leave final thoughts!!

Pain. Pain like Dirk was sure had never been felt before by anyone in the history of ever.

            This was an exaggeration, of course, but Dirk felt that his current situation merited overreaction.

            Dike knew magic when he felt it, and this was the most powerful magic he had ever experienced. It wasn’t just a normal stab wound, no. Every single nerve in his body hurt in equal measure, each one of them screaming at him as if _he_ could do anything to help them.

            And at the same time Dirk felt fatigue setting in, like the energy was being sucked out of him in real time. He suddenly had a very visceral understanding of what the man had meant by “battery”. Dirk was literally powering this machine, whatever it was.

            Dirk thrashed in place, but nothing helped. His ropes were tied too tightly and on top of that it became harder and harder every moment to stay conscious. He couldn’t see what was going on in the rest of the room anymore, he was too busy trying to stay awake and his vision was constantly clouded by tears of pain. He gritted his teeth hard enough to give himself long-lasting dental damage.

            At the very back of his mind the only thought that Dirk could express intelligently was “There has to be a less painful way to do this.”

Suddenly there was an abrupt crashing sound, loud enough that is penetrated the distracting amount of pain Dirk was feeling. There was someone yelling, too, but whatever they were saying was totally lost him.

A moment after this, Dirk felt the pain dull and his body thudded to the ground.

Amanda was thankful for the cool that overtook her after her attack, a fact which was what initially clued her in to the fact that she wasn’t _really_ knocked out, since part of being unconscious is that you can’t really think all that well.

            It had been a long time since Amanda had blacked out after an attack. She tried to remember the last time, realizing it had probably been in those first years when she’d just started having them, before she’d gotten on a cocktail of drugs and later on remedial magic.

            It had been at least six hours since Amanda had taken her meds, longer than she’d gone in a while.

            She remembered where she’d been before blacking out, the back of the van on the way to wherever Dirk was being kept. She hoped hazily that Todd and Farah were doing a good job of doing, well, whatever they had set out to do.

            Amanda could hear a faint screaming in a voice she recognized but couldn’t quite place. She realized that this, too, was a bit out-of-the-ordinary when it came to being unconscious.

            The screaming was getting louder and louder, as if the person screaming was getting closer to Amanda by the second. It increased in volume until Amanda snapped into consciousness, suddenly becoming very aware of the feeling of cold hard ground against her cheek.

            Amanda shot into the sitting position, her head spinning. She surveyed the scene unfolding around her. She was seated behind a giant metal coil in the center of the room.

            She saw her brother and Farah bound and kneeling across the room, and she could tell that their mission wasn’t exactly going very well. She could also see part of Dirk from behind the coil, he was bound to the thing and was writhing and screaming where he stood. Amanda hated the sight of it at the very core of her being.

            She only seemed to be able to focus on each of these things for a moment, however. She just couldn’t seem to look away from the coil, it was drawing her eyes with a magic that was stronger than any she’d ever encountered (not that she’d encountered much magic other than Dirk in her life.

            The more she stared at it the more she began to see a faint purple aura surrounding it, so faint that she wondered if she was still hallucinating a little bit. The more she stared, however, the easier it became to see, until she could look at it clearly without having to squint.

            She was draw towards it, her body moving before she could even telling it too, it’s magnetism too strong for her to resist, not that she wanted to. And why would she? This thing, whatever it was, promised in voice she couldn’t hear that it could give her all the power she’d ever wanted.

            Her arm raised by itself, still shaky from her earlier attack. The closer her hand got to the glowing metal of the coil the more she could feel a certain heat emanating off of it. She felt her fingers brush it and for a moment she got a shock of power, like when you touch someone after rubbing your socks on a carpet except one hundred times worse.

            She lay her hand flat on the metal and the shock became magnified one thousand times more. She felt power pulsing up along her arm, and yet she still didn’t remover her hand.

            And then, well, she exploded.

~~~

Farah was so distracted by what was suddenly happening by Dirk that she didn’t even notice Amanda at first. There were tears clouding her vision as she watched the rosy brightness drained from Dirk’s cheeks. Her wrists hurt like hell from where they were tied but she couldn’t be bothered with that.

            She only saw the flicker of movement behind the coil when looking at Dirk became too painful.

            She watched as Amanda sauntered up to the giant hunk of metal with a strangely…hungry look in her eyes. Farah wanted to tell her to stop but she didn’t have enough energy left to do it and her throat was as course as sandpaper.

            Amanda pressed her palm against the metal and Farah watched in horror as the purple aura crawled up the girl’s arm, encompassing her whole body.

            And then she exploded.

~~~

Amanda was kind of…floating. It felt like her earlier dream but different. It was kind of serene.

            She could sort of see what was happening in the room. Some people she knew were tied on the ground. She didn’t want them to be, so she untied them. Her friend, Dirk, fell to the ground. He wasn’t feeling very well, so she helped him out.

            She helped her friends lightly out of the brick building and into the van that she remembered arriving in before promptly falling to the ground.

            Todd knelt over his sister’s body.

            “I think I believe in magic.” He said. She wasn’t quite sure what it meant at the time, but she smiled anyway.


	12. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> about three weeks later.

Dirk couldn’t believe, he couldn’t _fucking believe_ what was happening.

He was going to go _on a date,_ with Todd.

Amanda was the one who had done it, really. By saving their lives, yes, and of course by introducing them to each other in the first place, but mostly for having to be in the hospital for two weeks, basically forcing Todd and Dirk to spend all that time together.

It was good, too, since Dirk was really thinking there that Todd might never make his move.

Dirk was just closing up when he saw a flicker outside the window. There was a man standing there, and Dirk really did want to ignore it. He so desperately wanted to ignore all this and just go on the date like he’d been planning.

The man, the one from so many months before, was already standing in the doorway. He shuffled awkwardly in place. The patch on his chest was gone. Dirk told himself that he hadn’t noticed.

Dirk whipped his wand out of the pocket of his apron, where he still kept it despite what had happened. He pointed it at the man, pretending it wasn’t totally useless since whatever organization _this man_ was a part of had taken away his magic.

“You’re not welcome her.” Said Dirk, almost mumbling. The man raised his hands in a show of faux surrender.

“Fair enough. I just…wanted to apologize.”

“Good. You’ve apologized. Now leave.” Dirk took a step forward, feeling the shadow of his magic return.

The man looked almost hurt. “Look. If you’d just--” He shut his eyes, rubbing his temples. “If you’d just taken the job, we could’ve--”

Dirk’s words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. “No, because if this is the kind of shit _your organization_ is pulling nowadays, _I don’t want part of it._ ” There were tears in Dirk’s eyes. He was never good at keeping them in. “now fucking _get out_. I have a date to get to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :-)

**Author's Note:**

> leave any commentary you might have!! It helps!


End file.
